Boston, MA 01/31/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Accelrys Inc (NASDAQ:ACCL) is to be acquired by Dassault Systemes S.A. (EPA:DSY) in an all cash deal of $750 million. The French maker of 3-dimensioanl design software has agreed to purchase its U.S. competitor in an effort to expand its product portfolio.
Accelrys board agrees
The French developer of computer assisted design programs seeks to widen its contribution to life sciences and molecular chemistry. Keeping in line with this effort, it has decided to self finance the deal with the San-Diego company which provides scientific software for the aerospace, energy and industrial goods sectors. Dassault Systemes will be offering a tender for all the shares of the company which are priced at $12.5 per share. It hopes to completely acquire Accelrys Inc (NASDAQ:ACCL) in the second quarter, depending on the approval of the shareholders majority there. Reportedly, the board including members such as Sanofi SA (ADR) (NYSE:SNY), Unilever N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:UN) and L’Oreal SA (EPA:OR) have collectively agreed in favor of the transaction.
Lifesciences unit expansion
With this merger, the Chief Executive officer of the Paris based company aims at strengthening the contribution of Dassault Systemes’s scientific product life-cycle management in molecular chemistry units along with those of packaged consumers goods and energy. Software makers are on the move to customize their products to individual industries so as to get hold of a stronger grip over expanding markets for business applications.
Previous acquisitions
Other acquisitions that Dassault Systemes has made recently include Apriso Corporation, a U.S. based software maker. Accelrys Inc (NASDAQ:ACCL) also plans to completely takeover Realtime Technology AG, a Munich based provider of 3D visualization software this month. In 2010 earlier, it also paid as much as $600 million for acquiring a part of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM). The company now working with 170,000 customers spread across 140 countries had taken over the sales and customer support unit of the information technology company.
